Thanksgiving break

For Thanksgiving we were given a few days off uni- which for me was more like a week and a half off uni for me because all my classes were cancelled. Allie kindly invited me, Kenzie, Kate and Lisa to stay with her family for the week, and I had an incredibly amazing time. Allie and her family are so so so generous for taking us in, feeding us, driving us all over the place, and most importantly treating us to a real American Thanksgiving experience.

Beantown!

We left UMass on Tuesday night and began our adventures on Wednesday morning. We began the day with a trip to Allie’s grandma’s house, where the cooking had already begun for the following day’s festivities. We squeezed in a bit of homework, and went to a very random shopping centre.. This shopping centre had an entire room where everything was made out of jelly beans! Weird? Yes. Awesome? Also, yes. There was also trapeze lessons going on and “water fireworks”.

Lisa and Kate at Boston Commons

After that Kate, Lisa and I got the train into Boston. It was freeeezing cold (like, seriously actually freezing) whilst we roamed through Boston Commons; a gorgeous park with a few very interesting statues. As we approached the end of Boston Commons we found ourselves at Newbury Street; famous for shopping! Allie’s mum, Sandy, works at DKNY on Newbury. We popped in to say hello and then made our way down the street, which progressively goes from very fancy to nice and cheap. Amazingly, none of us bought anything. Sandy gave us a lift back to Acton, where we stopped off at the high school for a pep rally! Yes, I’m serious. Allie’s brother, Peter, is a senior in high school, and the Thanksgiving day game is the big season-final game..So they have a pep rally the night before. I’ve never experienced anything so stereotypically American! I loved it!

Kenzie, Kate and Allie layering it up at the football

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving day!) we woke up nice and early to make our way to Peter’s football game. They won! It was a nice close game too- and I think I even understand the rules now, too! Next stop was Allie’s grandma’s house, for the Thanksgiving feast. I have never been so happy to have such a humongous home-cooked meal! (After three months of campus dining halls, it was just what we needed) There was turkey, and mashed potatoes, and veges, and gravy, and cranberry sauce..All things good and yummy. I can’t begin to explain how good the food was. Needless to say, we all passed out soon after! A nap is always needed after a big lunch. Also, we needed our nap to prepare for the evening’s activities....

BLACK FRIDAY :)

Black Friday shopping is much like Boxing Day shopping at home... Except Allie treats Black Friday like it’s an Olympic sport! The major difference to Boxing Day shopping is that Black Friday is in the middle of the night. We left the house a bit after 9pm and didn’t get back until 6:30am! We went to New Hampshire (north of Massachusetts) because there’s no tax there. First stop was Walmart. Otherwise known as “madness”. We got in when the sales started at 10pm, and there were people EVERYWHERE. People with a mission. Trolley’s full of Christmas presents. It was intense. After two hours battling the crowds of Walmart, we attempted to shop at Koel’s (like Myer), but discovered that the queue to check out looped around the entire store. It would’ve taken us two hours just to purchase anything. We eventually made it to a mall, where it was just like normal shopping...Except it was 1am. We hunted for many a bargain- I got some Christmas shopping done! The most exciting part of the night was when JC Penney opened at 4am, with a huge crowd waiting to enter. They give out free snow globes every year, but you have to battle the crowds to get one. If you have seen the episode of Friend’s where they go shopping for Monica’s wedding dress- it was exactly like that! Getting shoved around; meanwhile hearing the person who’s pushing you shout “why is everyone pushing me??!?”. Crazy crazy people.

Being a "survivor" of Black Friday shopping!

Given that we didn’t get to bed until almost 7am..Most of Friday was spent in bed. However, on Friday night Allie’s Dad, Tom, took us out for an incredible meal! The restaurant was a “shabu shabu” style restaurant where you cook your own meal. They put a very hot pot in the middle of the table, and you order various meats and vegetables. Using chop sticks (uh oh!) you place the food into the pot, wait a few seconds, and it’s cooked! Amazingly deliciously fabulous meal!

At the Harvard gates!

On Saturday we went into Boston, where we mostly explored the Harvard area. Sadly (most likely due to it being Thanksgiving break) the gates to Harvard were locked so we didn’t get to set foot on the campus. However, we got a bit of a view from outside the gates. The whole “Harvard Square” area is stunning. There’s a bunch of cool shops, lots of beautiful mansions, and relaxing parks. On the riverfront we got some nice views; both near Harvard at later (at sunset) closer towards the centre of town.

Now, Sunday, I am back at UMass..and dreading the many many many assignments due in the coming weeks. I can’t believe I’ve got less than three weeks at UMass!

Roadtip to Montréal

Lisa and I decided that we desperately wanted to get away for a weekend, and Montreal is the closest city in Canada, so why not?! We persuaded Kate and Julienne to join us, and luckily Julienne was keen to drive (as I most certainty was not! American drivers are nuts!! Plus it’s the wrong side of the road..)

Early Friday morning we headed down to the car hire place. As we were about to leave a car came into the parking lot at a ridiculous speed and very almost hit us. While reversing (to let the other car in) we had a good laugh at how funny it would be if we had an accident before we even left the parking lot.. Then, bang. A different car hits us from behind. It was an employee of the car hire company, reversing out of his spot. Awkward. It was his fault though, and he apologized profusely. We had to hang around for half an hour or so to fill out insurance forms etc, but we were on the way soon after.

To get to Montréal you have to drive through Vermont- which is really beautiful and mountainous. At our first toilet/food stop we found a flyer for the Ben & Jerry’s factory, where you can do a $3 tour.. Needless to say that was chosen as our next stop. We learnt about the history of Ben & Jerry’s, saw how they make the ice cream and tried a sample of Milk & Cookies ice cream. Yum yum yum. Very worth $3!!

On the drive up to the Canadian border we drove through a little bit of snow..which Lisa called “sleet”, but snow is snow, and snow is exciting. At the border they were very friendly and essentially let us straight through.. Before we knew it, we’d found our way to Montréal! It was dark when we got there so we got a great view of the skyline at night.

We settled into our apartment, and headed off to explore the shops. We went to the Eaton Center, a big shopping center in the middle of town. I bought a little backpack which should be handy.

On Saturday we spent most of the day exploring “Old Montreal”, the historical part of town. It is soooo stunning. It’s also amazingly clean. The buildings are beautiful and there’s lots of cobblestone streets. We went to the Notre Dame. It’s not nearly as breath-taking as the one in Paris, but it’s still pretty cool. There was a choir & orchestra rehearsing inside so we got to listen to some nice music while we wandered around.

Briefly catching up with Vic

  

Then we headed back towards the shops to browse. I met up with Vic, a friend who I met in Toronto five years ago on exchange there. Didn’t even know she lived in Montréal until that morning! But it was sooo great to see her, even if we only had a brief catch up. We went to Chinatown for dinner, and had an early night. We were all sooo exhausted. We watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame on YouTube before bed, seemed fitting given we’d been there that day!

On Sunday morning we got up at a decent hour to make the most of the day. Before leaving Montréal we decided to go up Mont Royal (from which Montréal got it’s name!) to check out the views over the city. We kind of walked aimlessly, as there were very few maps, but eventually we made it to a lookout. The view was AMAZING. It’s just a stunning city!

Woodstock at sunset

After that we were on our way back down to America! Crossing the border took a little longer on the way back, but we didn’t have any major dramas. Lisa’s Mum said that if we were going to stop somewhere in Vermont we should go to Woodstock, which, it turns out, is right on the way! When we got there the sun was setting, and being a Sunday afternoon the shops were all closing. Though it was dark, I still think Woodstock is a really cute town. And there were lots of unique shops, would’ve been fun if they’d been open.

Overall, I had an amazing weekend. Montréal is a beautiful city, I’d love to go back and spend some more time there.